Summer is on its way out the door once again and its time to look into Fall and Spring semester scholarships for gay and lesbian college students.

Financing college is a challenge for most students. LGBTQ students may have special financing needs, particularly if coming out has caused a break with family. All college students should start their financial aid application process with the Federal Application for Student Aid or FAFSA. This application determines your eligibility for federal loans, grants and other aid. Lesbian and gay students are eligible for some specific scholarships. If your college or university has a gay and lesbian student center, they may be aware of other local scholarships appropriate for gay students. These organizations and your school’s financial aid office may also be able to help you advocate if parents are not cooperating with FAFSA applications or other issues.

The Point Foundation is one excellent possibility for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students. The Point Foundation is the National LGBT Scholarship Fund and manages a number of different scholarships. Options are available for both graduate and undergraduate students and application details may be found at http://www.pointfoundation.org/index.html. Preference is granted to students without family support due to their sexuality or gender. The League Foundation at AT&T offers several $1500 and $2500 scholarships to LGBT high school seniors who have excelled academically. College acceptance is required, as is community service in order to qualify for these scholarship options. Specialty scholarships for specific majors and fields are also available from some organizations. Some colleges, universities and graduate programs offer their own scholarships directed at gay, lesbian and transgender students. With a lower overall pool of applicants, you may find that these are quite accessible.

If you expect to be applying for scholarships, you should make sure that you have completed the basic requirements of many programs. Scholarships for gay and lesbian students do expect that you will be open about your sexuality, having come out to family and friends. The majority of scholarships expect good grades and a good community service background, whether in your school or your community. Scholarships specifically intended for gay students may expect that service to have been done within the LGBT community, like the Live Out Loud program. Do keep in mind that there are many scholarship options that have nothing at all to do with your sexuality and gender, and look for these at your university, local area and online.


For a thorough listing of possible scholarships, see http://www.washburn.edu/sobu/broach/glbt-scholar.html. This listing includes both scholarships for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students, as well as scholarships for those studying issues relevant to the gay community. Some scholarships may also be open to gay and lesbian allies who have done valuable and relevant community service.

There is no doubt that things are improving in our world. More and more states are legalizing gay marriage and recognizing civil unions. According to polls, support for gay marriage is increasing across the country. Unfortunately, the news is not all good.

As of this writing, six states in the United States have legalized gay marriage via legislative or judicial actions. Same sex couples can currently marry in Iowa, Massachusetts and Connecticut. Vermont and Maine will allow gay and lesbian couples to marry as of September, 2009. Gay marriages will be performed after January 1, 2010 in New Hampshire. While New York and the District of Columbia will not allow gay couples to marry, they will recognize marriages from other states. Current legislation is pending in New York to allow same sex marriage.

New Jersey offers civil unions that include all state rights given to heterosexual married couples. A number of states, including Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Wisconsin, Washington and the District of Columbia offer civil unions or domestic partnerships that include some degree of rights and responsibilities.  These range from minimally guaranteeing hospital visitation privileges and some inheritance rights to more comprehensive unions requiring insurance protections, impacting tax laws and more.

Some forty states restrict marriage to a man and a woman. Some of these states do offer domestic partnerships or civil unions. Nineteen states ban any recognition of civil unions, partnerships or gay marriage. Federal law, under the Defense of Marriage Act, does not recognize gay marriages or civil unions; however, some federal employee benefits have been extended to gay partners.

What can we expect to change across the United States? While Obama promised an overturn of the Defense of Marriage Act, this is still to come. Massachusetts has challenged this law on the basis that it is discriminatory, relying on the defense that family law is typically a state matter. Other suits are being brought against the Defense of Marriage Act by private parties. It is expected that other states with legal gay marriage will join in the fight against DOMA.

See http://www.npr.org/news/specials/gaymarriage/map/ for an easy state by state breakdown of gay marriage laws.

Madonna said she is “devastated” by the news of a stage crewmember being killed by a freak accident of her stage collapsing while being built in France today.  A French worker was killed and a few others were seriously injured while trapped from the roof of the falling stage.

Madonna is currently on tour performing her Sticky and Sweet Europeon leg in Italy and was not in Marseilles France when this happened.  Putting together stages can be a difficult task and something that happens in a very timely manner which can lead to lots of accidents.  This sort of reminds me of the Cowboys stadium in Dallas where players were injured from a collapsing roof.  Very sad situation.

The Sticky and Sweet tour is expected to go through Spain, Czech Republic’s Prague, and end in Israel.  I am hoping to attend the Czech Republic show in Prague and hope to see the Sex museum there and other historic sites.

Madonna may also take part in the 2009 MTV VMA Awards from NYC for a huge Michael Jackson Tribute with many other celebrities.  She has already done one great tribute on her July 4th show in London at the same  02 Arena where Jackson was supposed to perform this month.

The CEO of the popular Rockstar energy drink announced he would donate $100,000 to LGBT Organizations.  This donation comes to three LGBT organizations among other support for their LGBT employees.  This all comes after they threatened to sue the Bilerico project and Change.org but changed their mind to a better PR tactic.  This we welcome!

It turns out that Rockstar Energy Drink CEO Russell Weiner announced that the beverage company will expand its LGBTsupport but it seems to have all happened after this.  It took blogs calling him out that his dad was Michael Savage.  I guess he changed his name to distance himself from his dads far right-wing nut job views? Who knows but we do know that “the Weiner” did donate to Gavin Newsoms campaign in San Francisco so hey thats a good thing.  But anything remotely connected to Michael Savage scares the tards out of me.  It all comes down to the fact they are both running a business and have to do what they can to keep the business running but Michael Savage could do some good in the world and spread love instead of hate.

The problem is that the CFO of Rockstar is Michael Savage who preaches hate on his radio shows against almost anyone that is not him.  Will the sale of a Rockstar benefit his pocket book and keep his mouth open or can we shut it by stuffing more money down his throat.  It would be like buying eggs and finding out that Sally Kerns is benefiting somehow from it.  I would immediately quit buying eggs or even looking at them thinking I might catch her right wing nut job disease.

More and more gays and lesbians are falling addicted to the Rockstar energy drink just as we did with Redbull and others since the first energy drink Jolt Cola was introduced.  While these drinks are not exactly healty or the best things to mix with alcohol the gay community has been one of the biggest customers.  Energy drinks the hottest seller inside nightclubs taking over sales of water in some cases.  They are the drug we need to dance and stay alert when driving back home but most of all these drinks are the drug to keep us focused during the day that has replaced coffee and tea in some cases.  Of course, coffee and tea are much healthier.

Some alternatives to Rockstar are Redbull and other energy drinks that are displayed at gay pride parades.  It is always best to buy the drink you think is the healthiest first of all with less sugar and cancer causing ingredients.  Be careful because the sugar free drinks they claim normally contain a sugar that is not really sugar-free but a replacement such as Splenda or aspartame.  The aspartame is found in sugar-free redbull.  Why on earth they have to sweeten everything is beyond me.. or at least make it Agave nectar which is better for our health.

If you insist on consuming energy drinks, there are options. Coca-Cola (who repeatedly scores 100% on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index), for instance, makes Full Throttle and Tab Energy. But check the ingredients!

Bottom line is to buy a drink that is healthy or support a drink that sponsors our events.  Red bull at least sponsors events and circuit parties across the nation.  If a drink does not have health benefits or support GLBT causes in any way then run from it.

Cruises are a popular vacation option across the board today; however, you may find some cruises are friendlier to gays and lesbians than others. Gay cruises are chartered cruises, with the ships and crew from standard cruise lines. There are a number of factors to consider when planning to take a gay or lesbian cruise vacation.

First, decide where you want to go. You can find cruises to Alaska, Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean. You should also consider how much of a priority a gay cruise is. Would you be just as happy with any cruise? If so, better deals can be had from the standard cruise lines. Why do so many gays and lesbians opt for specialty cruises? Gay and lesbian cruises offer entertainment you won’t find elsewhere, a relaxed and uninhibited atmosphere and great camaraderie. If you are traveling alone, you’re sure to make friends quickly and have a fun and carefree holiday.

Atlantis Events is one of the primary gay and lesbian cruise choices on the market today. Working with cruise lines like Celebrity and Holland America, you can find cruises to popular destinations around the world on beautiful and luxurious cruise liners. RSVP Vacations is another option in the gay cruise industry offering luxurious and fun cruises well suited to both singles and couples. While women are welcome on both Atlantis and RSVP cruises, they typically make up only 10% of the customer base for these companies.

Lesbians looking for warmth, camaraderie, and a great cruise may want to consider an Olivia Cruise. With entertainment, singles activities and speakers geared to the lesbian community, an Olivia Cruise is guaranteed to be fun. Olivia Cruises charter high quality cruise liners from Holland America for all of their lesbian cruises. Olivia offers Caribbean and Alaska cruises.

If you have children or you and your partner are looking for a quieter and less party oriented gay cruise, R Families cruises may be well suited to your needs. Gay and lesbian families will find friendship on an R Families cruise as they share the experience of building and enjoying their families. Plan ahead if you want to attend one of these cruises as they happen infrequently. Children’s activities are available for kids from 2-17 and much of the evening entertainment is appropriate for the whole family.